Cross Culture question : How has your hometown changed in your lifetime? How has it changed since your parents were young?
Image owned by me and taken of my hometown
I'm from Imo state in a place called Orlu, which is in Orlu local government area, Southern eastern area In Nigeria, West Africa. My hometown is a place we call ulo basically this translates to village. My hometown has pretty changed in my lifetime and back in the days when I was younger it was known for its tall trees, the yellow sun, mud houses with cement plastering and corrugated semi-iron sheets.
There was what we called aban ji they were barns used for storing yams. Back in days in my hometown when I was younger (about 20 years now) yam was the major staple food and people were measured in riches by how many yam barns they had. Although young peopl went to school but then it ws schools where pupils used slates for writing and secondary school students speaked in native dialects.
The most popular form of menial transportation was motor cycles and Raleigh's bicycles. Cars were not really rampant and the cars we had were old model mercedes and peogeout cars, I was about 6 years at the time when this was all happening, but I was blessed with a vivid memory.
I knew my grandmother and grandfather from that time and they were petty traders, while they would prefer eating processed and pounded cassava with native soup, they made sure they bought Lipton yellow label tea and the sliced bread we had then. Cacoyam too was a popular food when I was younger and it was what farmers ate a lot because they grew it in their farms.
In the days when my parents were younger it was totally mud house with thatched roofs, the means of transportation was bicycles and feet, I remembered my aunt telling me she would trek more than 20 kilometres to get to school or the farm, spoke about the Biafran civil war that took place in Nigeria in 1967 and our hometown was wiped out by soldiers, she spoke about how my father was newly born during the war and how they we're forced to migrate from one location to another.
But the change of my hometown from when I my parent were little wasn't something I could tell since I didn't witness it and my aunt did witness it. In reality my hometown was very fetish during when my parents was young. What you would call African juju worshipping of idea and sacrifices of animal to deities. Which was really rampant in the early days my parents were toddlers.
Nevertheless it's totally different, nowadays you don't see the thick tall trees and the semi corrugated roofed houses. You don't see the old model bicycle and cars or motor cycles, due the government initiative, you have better tarred roads, better water irrigation system, the old traditional toilets are gone and you see modern toilet system. You don't have people taking farming as occupations anymore.
Many have migrated to diverse cities to seek for betterment of the future even my parents took me away when I ws six and I only went back when my grandfather died and went back again when my father himself died. Up until today the most significant change has been the houses, house are being built everyday people now drive fancy cars and dress flamboyantly. The system of kings and queens no longer hold much value since Nigeria is now a federation and the supreme legal identify is that of the executive governor or president.
My hometown has tremendously changed, although we have maintained almost all of our cultural heritage and well gotten rid of the barbaric and the unnecessary ones. Although I would virtually say I prefered it when I was a toddler to how that I am an adult. This is because I miss the mud houses, the tall bushes, the red sunset on the horizon of the streams, the even tradition clay and firewood style of cooking. Maybe it was because I was younger then but currently almost all these mundane characteristics are gone due to the inducement of more people coming to build houses and cutting down the bushes, filling the streams, felling the tress to accommodate businesses and well other ventures.
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https://twitter.com/PERCIVAL_JOEY/status/1348537458884009989
I can so relate to your post. I am from anambra state, ihiala.
I remember the good old days of mud house and motorcycles, the days of trading and farming.
Your post makes me nostalgic. 💙
Ah ihiala I have some relatives from there as well. The days of trading and farming were beautiful if you ask me, nowadays development has changed the good old days
Very beautiful
But we can only be thankful for the growth anyways
That means you should know how to farm right
Haha, no I don't. I went to the farm once with my granny, it was hectic but fun, we got some kernel and all.
That's interesting
Never would have imagined you were from the east, I'm from Anambra State. When I was little from what I can remember we occasionally visit my maternal home, same Anambra but since my grandparents passed away going home is no longer fun anymore
Well yeah, small world isn't it? Im from Omo state born and bred. Well you need a sense of strong connection to want to relative to ones village. As for me I have responsibilities to my village hence I still need to always go back. Abraham is where my maternal grandmother is from.
That's a common factor to always visit your home town but its been awhile I went there, I miss the whole village experience once in a while
https://twitter.com/Bhattg18/status/1348573108257452032
Hahaha... I like how you said that you people have successfully removed the barbaric cultures. I'm one of those that believe that not all cultures need to be adopted so I'm always happy to see when a unreasonable ones are swept under the carpet and trampled upon
That being said, the world is evolving so the villages that used to be filled with mud house is now occupied with blockhouse and it shows that people there are growing and developing at the same time.
That issue of migration is usually caused due to the search for greener pastures although you and I would have to agree that the imbalances that it is creating is now making some areas in Nigeria to have higher cost of living than the other
Well Done ✅
Truth is, I loved the letargic appearance of the old village house back in the days and I wouldn't really trade it for anything by all means. But then sadly development must take by at all cost. Thanks for stopping by again.
Interesting insight into your hometown man, I felt like I was there. The coal cooking is a good thing to do now and then. Bless up bro!
The coal cooking still continues even till now.
I wish we could have it all, the old mud houses and the newly renovated apartments. I hate to see the old culture die, but wish we could provide more abundance for all who want to pitch in.
"very fetish" and "animal dieties" wow! My mind is busy imagining what that was like.....very different from my upbringing! Sounds wild. What is the name of those older faiths?
It was either the old mud houses or the new development houses, one has got to give way and you'd guess that it was the new development houses that would stay because of the innovative.
As for the religious, it was dark African magic practices that involved blood sacrifices, so many cruel things that I wouldn't really be proud of. But then it's the thin fall trees, the Yellow sun and the old mud houses that I particularly missed at lot.
Wow, I don’t know much about those kinds of rituals but it’s strange how they were part of many cultures. I wonder why.
It's basically a surety in the African back in the days there were so many festish, still are even till today but then those were back in the days